


A Heart of Stone

by americanfightpuppy



Category: Avengers (Comics), Marvel, Marvel 616, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angels, Anthony Lucifer Stark, Demons, Devil/Angel, Happy Ending, I'll be adding more tags and characters as the story progresses, M/M, Manipulating, Stony - Freeform, Superhusbands, Wings, angel!Steve, devil!Tony, devil/angel au, to avoid spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2018-11-09 14:11:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11106219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/americanfightpuppy/pseuds/americanfightpuppy
Summary: When Steve Rogers falls to hell and finds himself unable to leave, his world collapses in on itself. But to make matters worse, while trying to fight off the dozens of demons that are trying to tear him to pieces, he is unpleasantly surprised by the sudden appearance of the lord of the underworld himself, who seems to take an interest in the angel.But what do you do when the person- the one everyone you have ever known has been warning you about your entire existence- doesn't turn out to be as horrible as you had previously believed?- I'm a horrible Summary writer and maybe someday in the future I'll be able to write a decent summary for this story, but today is not that day, so until then, have a spoilerfree synopsis: Steve is literally a fallen angel and due to a broken bone in his wing can't leave hell. Tony, the devil, naturally gets air of this celestial being in his kingdom and realises the potential he has by holding an angel prisoner.All the while, Tony has a thing going on on earth surrounding a boy named Peter Parker, who made a deal with him.A Story about hell ;v;





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> 'The devil isn't as black as he is painted.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ''Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.'' ~ Ephesians 6:11

Screams of agony were heard throughout the air. The kingdom of darkness was blazing in flames; torturing damned souls and home to the demons that haunted the rotten grounds. 

Tony Lucifer Stark opened the door of his pitch black mansion and breathed in the smoke and ashes, his lips pulling up in a sinister smirk which revealed a pair of razor sharp fangs. His glowing red eyes shone a dull light over his olive-coloured skin, creating a dim contrast with his dark brown, almost black, hair. 

The intimidating man was wearing a normal, black business suit with a grey shirt underneath. The horns that sprouted from his temples -which grew to the back of his head with one gracious wave- had a faint red shine to them, that became brighter towards the tips. On his back rested a pair of powerful, raven-black wings, decorated with sharp scales and two long claws at the top joints. The leather that connected each limb hung loosely as the wings were folded, and the ending of each finger hovered just an inch above the ground. 

In the middle of his chest, bright enough to shine through his grey shirt, enlightened a red circle with an upside down star in the middle. His signature. 

This was his world, and he was its ruler. He decided how things ran around here and he loved every second of it. He enjoyed the fear on the faces of the damned souls, the intimidation in the eyes of his slaves, and the nearly unlimited power he had in this realm. This was hell. And he was the devil.

 

Tony spread his powerful wings and soared up in the air, the smirk still decorating his face as he flew over the deep pits of flames, agonizing screams flailing through the air while his eyes were taking in the scene underneath him. The flapping of his wings created strong wind streaks that alarmed the demons below of his presence, and had them looking up and bowing their heads to him.

Tony’s gaze went over the environment until he had reached his destination. The devil landed on the ground, his landing swift and controlled as usual, folding his wings neatly on his back again. The moment he lifted his head, a few demons crowded him, talking gibberish and offering him all kinds of stuff. Tony proudly raised his chin, eyes narrowed as he took a cup of coffee from one of the smaller creatures. He put the cup to his lip and sipped the liquid, which quickly made his smirk turn into a frown. He lowered the cup, his gaze digging into the red demon that had handed him the coffee. As he did, the other demons fell silent and stumbled backwards. They all knew what was about to come.

‘What is this?’ Tony’s voice was dangerously calm, which immediately alarmed the demon. The red creature shrunk, its eyes showing fear.

‘S-sir?’ He stuttered, hands twitching. Tony bowed down towards the creature, who was a lot smaller than the devil in front of him. Tony could control his own body mass, and frequently changed it whenever he simply felt like it. But at that moment, he looked like a giant, at least eight feet tall, buff and intimidating.

‘What is this I taste?’ He turned the cup around, the liquid falling down at the demons feet. It yelped and jumped backwards, as the boiling hot liquid splashed onto its toes. 

‘Do you remember our conversation yesterday?’ Tony asked, his eyes still narrowed and his red irises shining bright enough to throw a dull light on the demon’s face, giving the illusion that there was fire burning in the pupils. The demon raised its hands slightly, shivering uncontrollably as it became more anxious.

‘N-no m-milk, sir?’ Its voice was so quiet that it was barely audible. Tony smirked widely, his expression changing into somewhat relief.

‘Yes, that’s right. Now I have just one question.’ He stood up, straightening his back as shadows fell over his eyes.

‘Why is there milk in my coffee?’ He rose his hand ever so slowly, his fingers tensed. At the same time, the demons feet soared from the ground. It had its hands grabbing for its throat, gasping for air as if suffocating. The demon felt an invisible force grabbing it around the neck, forcing the oxygen out of its body, but was unable to stop the deeply unpleasant feeling. Tony showed the infamous devilish smirk only he could produce, tilting his chin again.

‘ _ **Get it right.**_ ’ 

The pitch of the devil’s voice had dropped drastically, the deep and sinister sound echoing all on its own as if multiple voices were speaking out at the same time, slow and exceptionally distinct. His hand closed to a fist and the demon fell three feet down, yelping while it tried to soften its landing. The red creature jolted up to its feet and rubbed its sore throat as it sprinted off, pained and afraid.

Tony turned his head, the shadows over his eyes disappearing, and continued walking. Like nothing had happened. Once again, he found himself surrounded by the same group of demons who had all been witness to the scene, trying to comfort him, apologizing for their comrade’s mistake. Tony ignored the inferior creatures and roughly pushed them aside as he approached his destination; an enormous grey building that looked more like a castle than anything  else. Red windows were scattered over the structure, and the grey walls were decorated with spikes and smears of dark red blood. The building was surrounded in shadows, and the light from inside gave the building a red glow. Normal humans would have shivers running down their spines only by looking at it, turn away and leave as soon as possible. But for Tony, this was one of his most favourite buildings in the kingdom.

Red was Tony’s favourite colour after all.

The devil took a bagel from a plate that was being held up to him, took a bite and entered the building. Inside the atmosphere was heavy. Only a few light bulbs worked, giving off a minimum amount of light. Tony didn’t need much light to see though. His eyes could see in the dark, and could even function as a heat sensor. What would a lord of darkness be if he couldn’t even see in the dark?

Once the massive wooden doors closed behind him, the demons that had crowded him before stayed behind and disappeared out of sight. 

A figure approached Tony. It was a human-like creature with snow white skin, raven black hair and bone-wings sprouting from his back with no skin on them whatsoever. Although looking more human than most beings in this world, the creature was clearly a demon, and like any other demon not a pretty sight. This didn’t bother Tony in the slightest though, as he had long gotten used to the particular visuals. 

The creature was wearing a butler suit, black with a grey tie and grey gloves. His eyes were completely white, no pupils or eyelids. The only thing colourful about the creature was the red tattoo in his neck, Tony’s signature. 

‘Mister Stark.’ The creature stood still a few feet in front of him, dipping his head in respect.

‘Jarvis.’ Tony nodded at his butler, grinning. Jarvis was one of the few demons he actually liked. This one demon had been working for Tony for a really long time, and had always had his back. When Tony wanted advice, Jarvis was the demon he’d turn too. He trusted him; something he couldn’t say about the other demons. They were in his power, of course, but they still had their own minds and were perfectly capable of talking behind his back if they so pleased. Jarvis didn’t do this though. And Tony was sure about this, because Jarvis had been the only one that had actually cared for him when he had been most vulnerable. 

Tony shrank himself to Jarvis’s size. He was about the only demon Tony didn’t view as inferior to him, and the devil felt the need to clearly express this to him by literally becoming his equal in size.

‘Sir, someone has requested your summoning.’ The demon announced, looking at Tony with his completely white eyes. Tony groaned in response, pinching the bridge of his nose.  

‘Teenager?” 

‘Yes sir. A very young one.’ 

Tony shook his head and started walking up the stairs. Jarvis followed him, walking by his side. He used to follow him a few feet behind, but Tony had insisted that this wasn’t necessary long ago. Now, Jarvis had gotten used to the special, rather merciful treatment he got from the devil, and no longer feared the few outbursts he had to witness, which Tony already barely had around him. Something about Jarvis seemed to have a calming effect on the devil. And Jarvis knew Tony would never harm him.

The two men walked through the enormous hallways, whimpers and screams echoing from the rooms they passed. Tony was complaining to Jarvis about the summoning thing and how much he despised it, and Jarvis couldn’t help but smirk. He was well aware that he was the only demon to know this side of the infamous ‘dark lord’. Tony was always professional towards everyone, meaning he always acted according to his ‘I’m the devil, bow for me’ mindset. Except for when he was alone with Jarvis. This was when he became enjoyable, dropped his mask and started acting like an actual person with feelings and emotions beside the impulse to bring harm and pain upon damned souls. In other words; he would behave like who he truly was, setting aside the devil persona.

The white demon really valued this about Tony.

Tony and Jarvis continued walking until they reached the end of the hallway. There were no obvious doors anywhere near the spot Tony and Jarvis were standing, the hallway simply ending in a wall with two tables to the sides.

As he kept speaking, the devil rose his hand and placed it against the wall. The entire hallway shook on its roots and the wall popped backwards, then continued to slowly slide down. 

‘Let’s see what brat dares to request my attendance.’

Tony walked into the previously hidden chamber, still followed by Jarvis. The room was prominently light, making it stand out from every other room in the building, with light grey walls and glass tubes running down the corners of the room, projecting an unsettling purple light. Machines and panels with more than two dozen buttons were located on two sides of the room and opposite of each other, with in the middle another machine that beared some resemblance to a mirror. Just way bigger, and the borders around the glass glowed the same purple lights that were also present in the tubes.

Jarvis immediately turned his head away the moment he entered the room, his gaze avoiding the not-so-quite mirror.

Nope. What appeared as an over the top, fancy bedroom requisite was actually a multi-dimensional portal. Tony had personally created it, as he sometimes had to deal with business outside of his kingdom and was required to visit the living world to handle it. 

But having a multi-dimensional portal at your disposal didn’t come without risks. Although unknown to most, there were a few skilled beings in the universe that Tony knew were guaranteed to discover his portal and figure out how it works, thus being able to use it on their own terms. Most of these beings were some of the demons or damned souls in hell itself and a handful of high-ranked angels above in heaven, not to mention god himself. But there were also a few humans who were oddly acquainted with hell. This secretly unnerved Tony. He wasn’t at all scared of the humans; there was no human soul that could ever begin to match with his power. But the amount of things some humans knew, and the knowledge they seemed to possess? It was weird, and frankly shouldn’t even be possible.

So to prevent any consequences that would get Tony in trouble, or would turn into a burden to him, he put a curse on the portal. The curse made the portal invisible to the watching eye, and prevented other people from using it. Tony could get through the portal effortlessly, but if anyone else watch just as much as glance at the glass, their whole body would completely freeze up. Their worst fears will flash before their eyes, horrible visions filled with gore, death and just about any traumatizing footage one can think of will be represented in front of them, and there is no way of escaping them. It will be like you are sucked into the visions, like you are living the horrendous deception of your mind, in which the person falling victim to it does not stay unharmed themselves. Mental and physical pain accompanies the dreadful visions, pain unlike anything else in the entire universe. And when the victims finally snaps out of it? Well, if they haven’t gone mad at that point, they’ll be so utterly petrified of the portal that they are willing to sacrifice limbs to get away from it as quickly as physically possible.

Tony had once witnessed this with one of his own demons. The sneaky creature had managed to stay out of sight from Tony and Jarvis, and was able to enter the hidden room before its walls had closed behind the devil and his friend. While Tony had been talking with Jarvis, the creature had been preparing itself to sprint right past the devil and through the portal once it would be turned on, longing for a different life and almost tasting the freedom on his tongue. And it had almost worked too, if only the demon had been aware of the curse. As the machines in the room were powering up, and the glass of the mirror was starting to brighten, the demon had taken its chance and started darting for the portal. Tony, immediately alarmed by the movement, was able to jerk his head around and let out a loud roar at the demon right before it froze in its tracks and collapsed to the floor as its gaze had fallen upon the liquidating glass and its mind had fallen victim to the curse. 

A couple of second later, although feeling like days for the demon, its eyes spread open and Tony watched in amusement as it immediately started screaming, running into the wall that had let him into the room before. Its entire body was shaking uncontrollably while pounding its fists against the light grey surface until they were bleeding. Tony had walked over, grabbed its wrist, and opened the wall by placing his hand on it. As it was lowering into the floor, the demon tried to pull itself free, but to no avail. And although in reality there wasn’t any danger around, as Tony wasn’t planning anything with the demon, it acted like it was going to die any second if it wouldn’t get out of the room as quickly as possible. So almost as a last resort, it pulled itself up and dug its own teeth in its arm, just below where tony was holding him up at the wrist, and with one adrenaline-filled crunch bit its already skinny and boney hand right off. It had landed on the ground, grabbed its stubby, bleeding arm with the one hand it had left and bugged it out of the castle as fast as its feet could possibly carry him.

Tony had turned to Jarvis and grinned, satisfied that his curse had proven to be effective.

Jarvis was glad to have never experienced it. Tony had warned him up front, the first time he’d taken the demon into the room, to protect him from the horrors. The fact that Tony cared so much about Jarvis to warn him about something like that, indicating he did not wish such a faith upon the demon, was the proof Jarvis needed to confirm what he already knew. Although easy to overlook and gone to great efforts to hide it, Tony had a heart, one that was bigger than the devil would ever care to admit or get credit for.

Tony walked to the mirror, activated it and rose his hands, eyes narrowed, concentrating. The glass of the mirror that was showing Tony’s reflection turned liquid, creating a constantly moving puddle of silver. Tony’s wings slightly unfolded, and he hovered his hands down. The mirror lighted up in the same colour of purple as the borders, giving the entire room a purple glow. 

A teenager appeared in the mirror. The teen, around sixteen years old, widened his eyes and jolted backwards, dumbfounded, probably never expecting the summoning to actually work. His expression quickly grew into that of a panicked animal, as he realised what he had done, and fear was finally catching up.

‘ ** _Which mortal soul has dared to summon me?_** ’ The devil’s voice roared, filling every corner of the room and scaring the teen, who almost fell over in surprise. His doe brown eyes were wide in shock, and he tried to find his voice back.

‘I-I’m Peter Parker, s-sir.’ He stuttered, grasping the cross in his hand. Tony glared down upon it and managed to stop his lip from quirking up in a smirk as he was reminded of the mortal’s believe that a cross would be able to protect them. That just a piece of wood was enough to stop him; one of the most powerful beings in all the realms. It had been the Christians who came up with all these lies. They told them so people would feel safer, so they would stay loyal to the religion.

Tony wasn’t affected by any of the relics. Crosses, salt, even holy water. None were hurtful to him. Holy water wasn’t even a real thing, and the closest thing that actually resembled it was the water angels drink in heaven which is, despite being in heaven and being drank by angels, still just normal water.

Mortals were dumb enough to think these things, as they weren’t aware of the devils full potential. Of how strong he really was, because he had never lived up to it. He has fought battles on half his power to trick the angels into thinking he wasn’t strong enough. For maybe one day, he would need his full strength to come as a surprise.

Also, the silly things the humans believed in were hilarious.

‘ ** _What is it you seek from me?_** ’  Tony’s eyes had turned full dark red, with his pupils an even darker shade. Peter’s hands were shaking despite his obvious attempts to stop them from doing, trying to hide his fear to a certain degree, which was impossible. The devil was able to sense it even through the portal.

‘I summoned you to ask for a favour.’ The teenager spoke with some more confidence,  his chin tilted to look straight at Tony. The devil narrowed his eyes. He admired the boy’s courage for talking to him the way he did. Usually, when Tony started to speak, people on the other side of the mirror would shrink in fear, sometimes even break the ritual and the rules to get out of his presence. Of course, this would be rewarded with Tony sending a demon after them to haunt them. 

‘ ** _What would that be?_** ’  The devil asked, his interest growing. Most of the time, people only wanted to ask him to usual questions, like; How will I die? What will my future look like? Or any questions about himself: the devil. Tony despised these type of summoning even more, and whenever he got these, he would use his sneaky tricks to lead people into messing up the ritual so he could send a demon after them. No matter how evil he could be, or was made out to be, he did play by his own rules. And he enjoyed every second of messing with the mortal mind.

‘I want to be stronger. I want to be able to protect myself and my aunt. My uncle passed away and since he’s gone, we are receiving threats, some even with our lives. We live in a very dangerous neighbourhood, and my aunt has been robbed two times now. She still doesn’t dare to go outside on her own.’ Peter fell silent, staring at his hands. Tony could see that the boy’s fear was somewhat pushed back in his mind as he was thinking about his aunt’s safety, indicating that this was more important to him than his own safety.

‘ ** _I shall grant you one_** favour ** _in return for one._** ’ Tony’s lips curled up in a smirk, slightly moving his wings as he curled his arms together behind his back, waiting for the youngster to respond. Peter seemed to be thinking. He looked behind him for two seconds, sighed and turned back.

‘What would you possible want from me?’ He asked, his voice fading at the end of his sentence and his eyes filling with regret as he realised he was putting up something of an attitude against the lord of the underworld himself.

‘ _ **This I cannot tell you yet. You will have to be patient.**_ ’  The devil was the best in this game. He was really persuasive and manipulative, and even though he was portrayed as a monster in the living world, his charms allowed him to look deeply into a human's mind, finding just the right words to say to push their buttons and lure them straight into his trap.

Tony blinked and took a step forward, surprising the youngster and scaring him half to death as the devil, in the flesh, unexpectedly stepped out on the other side of the connection, out of the solid mirror. And Peter was clearly intimidated. Not only did an unknown man just appear in his room through his Mirror, but this man also happened to be the actual Devil Peter had somehow managed to actually summon. And as could be expected, the devil was not just a normal sized person with a suit. Peter gaped with disbelieve at the man that just fitted in his room, his two long and sharp looking horns scraping over the ceiling and his wings appearing to be occupying all the remaining space that had been left in Peter’s small bedroom.

‘ ** _Do we have a deal?_** ’ He held up his hand, leaning in a little. His eyes shone like two little flames, burning into the boy’s. Peter opened his mouth, his breath caught in his throat. But he swallowed, deciding against speaking what was on the tip of his tongue and nodded firmly, grabbing the devil's hand. The moment he did, he felt something tickling on the palm of his hand. The tickle got worse and he glanced down, only to see his hand being covered in raven black spiders that came crawling out of Tony’s sleeve like he himself was made up from the little creatures. Peter’s eyes widened and he tried to pull his hand away, but Tony’s grip was unbreakable, his eyes still burning into the boy’s. When Peter looked up once more, he felt his body freeze at the glare, allowing the black spiders to crawl up his arm and shoulder. 

Tony leaned back, still smirking the self-confident smirk of his, as the spiders slowly crawled all over Peter’s body, the boy still being paralyzed to the bone. Tony turned around and entered the mirror again, leaving the living world behind him. The last thing the mirror reflected was the sight of Peter, collapsing under his own weight as the arthropods covered his entire body. 

His image faded as the portal turned back into one solid piece.


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How do you react when the unexpected happens? What do you do?
> 
> Well, turns out; you fight it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ''-for with god nothing shall be impossible.' ~Luke 1:37

 The moment Tony exited the portal, he realised Jarvis was gone. Tony raised one eyebrow and looked around, but Jarvis was nowhere to be found. Tony shrugged and left the room, closing the secret door behind him. He walked through the long hallways to his office, where he settled down in his chair and picked up a file that lay on top of his desk. He flipped through the profiles of dozens of people, all that had entered hell the last month, checking their data. He would have to check up on them personally soon.

 A knock on the door drew Tony’s attention.

 ‘Come in.’ He said with a low pitched voice. Jarvis entered, his eyes slightly widened, chest going up and down a little faster than usual. Tony narrowed his eyes, noticing something was bothering the demon.

 ‘Sir, we have an unexpected guest.’ Jarvis reported, fingers twitching. Tony got up, his eyes starting to burn a little bit brighter.

 ‘What? Who dares request my presence?’ He asked, irritated that someone thought they were important enough that they wished to speak to him directly, instead of Jarvis or any of the staff members.

 Jarvis opened his mouth, then shook his head a little.

 ‘No sir, you have misunderstood me. We have a visitor in your realm.’

 That made Tony fall silent, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. His first thought was that somehow, a mortal had been able to figure out a way to the underworld. But that was impossible, for any living being wouldn’t survive a single minute in hell. Their bodies simply weren’t strong enough to stand the heat and high pressure that stood trademark for hell.

 ‘What has entered the underworld without my knowledge, Jarvis?’ Tony asked, his voice low and quiet, deeply suspicious.

 Jarvis seemed to be hesitant to answer. He looked down for a second, sighed and looked up.

 ‘An angel, sir.’

 

 ‘ _ **WHAT?!**_ ’

 Tony’s roar was heard miles away from the building. The devil’s voice was filled with anger and hatred, making all the demons in the surrounding area shudder in fear.

 Tony’s powerful wings spread as wide as they could in his relatively small office, his entire body shaking. Jarvis quickly dashed aside before Tony could fly through him as the devil launched at the door, wrapping his wings around his body firmly to fit through and unwrapping them when he was on the other side of the doorframe to push himself up again. At an extraordinary speed, Tony shot through the hallways, down the staircase and right through the door, blasting them out of their hinges.

 Once outside, his wings caught the air around him and he flew up high, his eyes scanning the surroundings.

 With his eyes turned purple, his supervision allowed him to look miles into the distance through the smoke and darkness. This way, he wouldn’t have to scour the entire area.  

 Tony clenched his fists and bared his teeth when he saw what Jarvis had told him. Miles away from the castle he saw a white blur dashing around, and surrounding it were a dozen of Tony’s minions, crowding up around the unwelcomed visitor. Tony’s eyes narrowed and he dived down, flying as fast as he could, appearing as nothing more than a flash of black for the creatures on the ground below. As an even faster way of flying, he wrapped his wings around him like a cocoon and spun in the air, catching more speed as he was respectively just falling down very fast.

 It only took him a handful of seconds to reach his destination this way, but he didn’t land like he usually did. Instead of his usual, controlled landing, he almost crashed into the ground, leaving a few yards long trail behind him where he had skidded through the ash-covered ground, his wings wide open to steady himself. Normally this type of landing would have thrown him off balance and required him to take a few seconds to recover, but adrenalin was racing through his veins, giving him the strength he needed to keep his posture up.

 The not-so-subtle landing was enough to startle nearly all the creatures in the surrounding area. Despite that, he rolled his lips up and let out a loud bark-like sound, pulling everyone’s attention for certain. His clothes stretched as Tony’s body rapidly expanded to twice its previous size.

 ‘ _ **Quiet!**_ ’ He roared, the muscles in his fingers tensing, nails stretching into sharp ends. The demons that were surrounding the unknown angel all dashed away, knowing damn well that if they would disobey their leader now and stood in his way, they would be removed with force.

 Tony's gaze met with that of the angel, and for a split second, his own eyes turned white. And, as a direct consequence, Tony's breath hitched and his body froze up. For a second he could only stare the angel in the eyes, before quickly pulling himself together and hiding his initial reaction. As he did, his eyes took on the usual bright red colour again.

 Tony observed the angel before taking any action. The first thing he noticed was the way the man was standing; legs spread apart for balance with his feet planted firmly on the ground. His fists were up in the air and shielding his upper chest and neck, protecting the vulnerable areas. His left wing stretched around his shoulder, covering his side but not too much to block his line of sight or form a hinder to any movement in his arm. It was obvious from the numerous scratches and the other damage it had endured that his wings were stronger than the average angel wing, even to the point that they were sturdy enough to be used as shields. Yet, the man kept his right wing folded up on his back, his body turned in a way that gave Tony the idea he tried to shield that wing from any hits.

 The white feathers, which stood out greatly from the dark shades that made up the underworld, had Tony remember a significant amount of memories he had tried so hard to forget about in the past. He narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists, forcing the memories back behind the locked doors they had been residing all those decennia before this intruder had appeared in the picture, and he focused on the angel again.

 The angel had an impressive muscular build with a wide chest and a notable small waist, and the way his biceps strained as he kept his arms raised in a fighting position affirmed Tony’s suspicions that the man was a soldier. Tony guessed he was rather high ranking in the army, taking his sturdy wings into consideration to get to that conclusion, but he wasn’t able to pinpoint his exact rank. Still, this information was pretty useful to Tony.

 The angel’s ripped white shirt revealed big parts of his abdomen and chest, which allowed Tony to take note of his heavy breathing, as well as the injuries Tony’s demons had given him. The gashes and cuts decorated every part of his body and stained both his clothes and feathers with blood.

 What made the angel stand out so much from the demons surrounding him, aside from the feathers and hideous choice of attire, were the colour of his hair and eyes. Beeline blond hair and baby blue eyes. What made these particular features stand out was due to the fact that these were nonexistent in hell, meaning that it had been absolute millennia since Tony had last seen these on a person.

 And no, this was not because blond haired and blue eyed mortals never went to hell. Doomed souls that had originally had either blond hair or blue eyes, got all of their features wiped to be replaced with dark hair and black eyes. And this didn’t only happen to people with these two features, but to anyone that entered hell. Every single soul was a physical replica of the other, with no diversity in them aside from the different personalities that once lived in their fleshy shells back on earth. Tony took away all the mortal’s individuality once they entered hell, for he felt that they did not deserve to have any. By taking away such features, he managed to do so.

 When the angel noticed that Tony was inspecting him, he slowly rotated his body a bit, moving his right wing as much out of reach from Tony as possible without actually taking a step back. Only then did Tony notice the dent in the angel's wing that made it bent at an unnatural angle. It looked pretty painful and was a clear indication to a broken bone. This explained why the angel hadn't just simply flown up and out of hell before any of the demons had even had a chance to attack him.

 The angel looked at Tony with narrowed, observant eyes, alert and keeping track of Tony's every move. In direct response, Tony folded his wings on his back to appear less like a threat and put on an amused smirk, his eyebrows cocked.

 The devil approached the angel, who was clearly forcing himself to keep his guard up.

 ‘Stay there, and not a step closer.’ He commanded. Tony was intrigued by the way he spoke; low pitched, showing no fear. It made him grin because, in spite of his attempt to hide it, Tony could smell his fear from where he was standing a few yards away.

 Tony completely ignored the warning and continued approaching the angel, who stepped back, quickly finding himself trapped against a large boulder. He was unable to move away from the devil, who leaned in intimidatingly close, still wearing his smug grin.

 ‘Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise?’ He spoke, his voice charming. The angel didn’t fall for Tony’s act and bared his teeth at him in a troubled expression.

 Tony, who had been shrinking his body back to his true state with every step he took, had to look up at the angel, as he was, by nature, taller than him. He found that it didn’t bother him though, as he quite enjoyed it that way. He had a nice view from there, and his size compared to the man opposite of him wasn’t really that important. The angel would be dead within seconds if Tony wanted him gone.

 ‘An angel in my kingdom of darkness.’ Tony eyed the man up and down, purposely making it look like he was checking him out. A shiver went through the angel's body, and Tony grinned wider, meeting his gaze again. He only then noticed the halo hovering about the angel’s head, and his eyes narrowed as a sly plan formed in his mind.

 ‘You are a little far from home, aren’t you?’ Tony leaned a little to the right to allow his right wing to unfold smoothly, the claw on top reaching for the glowing ring. The angel’s eyes widened as he realised what Tony was doing.

 ‘Stay away!’

 In a thoughtless act of pure panic and self-preservation, the angel's hands pressed against Tony's chest, giving him a shove with all his might. Violently, the devil was pushed away from him.

 Not expecting a reaction like this, Tony lost his balance for a split second and stumbled backward. But he'd only taken one step back before his entire body tensed up and he'd had refound his posture, his eyes burning red in fury.

 The angel watched as the man in front of him spread his arms and had his body expend exactly like it had done before, only now it didn’t stop after Tony’s body was merely double his natural size. The angel’s eyes were filled with regret and horror as he witnessed Tony’s skin turning red, his horns sprouting bigger and sharper, actual claws splitting the skin on his fingertips and his legs mutilating into animal-like anatomy. What was once a rather average man had turned into what could only be described as the leader of the demons, resembling them in features but much, much taller.

 Fear had taken over the angel’s entire body, nailing him to where he was standing, completely frozen to the core.

 The dull light that had originated from Tony’s horns became much brighter, throwing an eerie shadow over his snout like face. Yet, despite the bright light from the horns, the area surrounding Tony was dark, as if a sudden thick shade had fallen upon him.

 The devil, now in his most powerful state, lifted his head and glared at the angel, letting out a deafening and distorted roar, one that no other creature in the universe could possibly replicate.

 ‘ _ **You dare strike me, you petty, insignificant angel. I’ll show you what happens to those that provoke me**._ ’

 The angel exclaimed in fear as the enormous creature dashed forward, the earth shuddering under his enormous feet, and aimed for the now much smaller man. He tried to dodge Tony’s hand, but his injuries made him unfit for such quick movements. The devil’s fist made contact with the angel’s jaw, the force behind the punch sending him hurling to the ground a few feet from where he had been standing before. He skidded over the rough gravel ground that had his skin tearing in several places, and his broken wing scraped over the obstacles in his way down, worsening the injury and putting a lot of pressure on the already snapped bone. A muffled cry escaped the angel's lips, tears welling up in his eyes.

 Tony charged at the angel again and grabbed him by the arm, picking him up like he weighed nothing at all. The angel’s eyes widened and he desperately tried to free himself, but only ended up causing more harm to himself as Tony tightened his grip to ensure the angel wouldn’t escape. The angel felt a tear roll down his cheek as he pressed his eyes closed firmly. No matter what the devil was going to do to him, he didn’t want to see it.

 The angel gasped loudly when he felt a rush of wind whirling around his body, fearing he was being thrown away. But a few seconds passed without his body every colliding with any solid material and yet, the wind was still rushing around him. His eyes spread open and he found himself and the devil flying high up in the air, and immediately, he feared he was going to be dropped, where he would fall to his death. Oh, the irony.

 But the devil didn’t let go. He kept flying straight forward, his wings creating strong gusts of wind.

 When the angel tried to ask where he was taking him, the devil didn’t answer, his expression unchanged as if he hadn’t even heard the question at all.

 When the devil finally started to slow down, the angel wrapped his free arm around the devil’s big hand, afraid to be dropped again. With big eyes, he stared at the enormous mansion that appeared beyond the horizon. The structure was sinister and intimidating in appearance, and the angel found himself wishing he was back at the space he’d fallen down, fighting demons again rather than entering the unnerving building in front of him.

 ‘Where are you taking me?’ He tried again, his voice cracking and uncertain. He hated that he had to act the way he did, like he was a child that had lost its mother, but he knew damn well that anything else could end up infuriate the devil even more. And if he were to provoke him even a little bit more, it would probably end up bad for him. Or rather, worse, because no matter what was going to happen, the angel couldn’t imagine that his faith would be very pleasant to begin with.

 So he had to remain patient, and act accordingly. Even if this meant acting like a scared child.

 After all, he was just one angel. And the creature keeping him captive?

 Lord of the underworld himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol I'm sorry it took me so long to update. Just, life, you feel me?  
> Hopefully you enjoyed the chapter anyway  
> All feedback is appreciated! Thanks for reading, you cool beans \\(◦'⌣'◦)/


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